Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Limestone meadow sedge
Carex granularis
Limestone meadow sedge is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 707 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Limestone meadow sedge at a glance
- Native in
- 707 counties, across 36 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Limestone meadow sedge is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 707 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 707 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 6 counties
- Arkansas 11 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 18 counties
- Georgia 1 county
- Indiana 50 counties
- Iowa 1 county
- Kansas 10 counties
- Kentucky 46 counties
- Louisiana 12 counties
- Maine 4 counties
- Maryland 12 counties
- Massachusetts 4 counties
- Michigan 48 counties
- Minnesota 41 counties
- Mississippi 4 counties
- Missouri 71 counties
- Nebraska 10 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 11 counties
- North Dakota 10 counties
- Ohio 46 counties
- Oklahoma 6 counties
- Pennsylvania 48 counties
- South Dakota 2 counties
- Tennessee 48 counties
- Texas 6 counties
- Vermont 9 counties
- Virginia 56 counties
- West Virginia 13 counties
- Wisconsin 34 counties
- Wyoming 1 county
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CAGR3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Carex granularis (PLANTS symbol CAGR3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources